The Sickness
by Mickey Levy
Summary: Lucy Heartfilia, the daughter of a rich aristocrat, has been diagnosed with lymphangioleiomyomatosis. Natsu Dragneel, the son of the head doctor, has schizophrenia. What will happen to the sick girl and the crazy boy?
1. Uh Oh

**Hello all! I'm PhantomScarlett, this is my first fanfic on this website so please forgive me if it's really horrible. I will try my best ^^ Please try to enjoy my story!  
I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters associated with it, I only own this story you are about to read.**

A blonde figure ran down the streets of Magnolia, her hair fluttering behind her. She wore a white and blue tank top, blue running shorts, and matching tennis shoes. It was a cool day, and her breath came out in small puffs of white air. At the pace she was running, it was obvious she was in a hurry, and indeed she was! Lucy Heartfilia was late for school, again.

She had been oversleeping lately, finding it harder and harder to wake up each morning. "Dammit.." she huffed softly to herself, knowing she would be scolded by her teacher. "I'm late.. again... Levi-Chan will be worried.. And Erza.." the blonde shuddered, knowing her friend would be greatly irritated by her tardiness. Lucy shook her head and ran faster, pushing the door to Fairy Tail Academy open.

As she stepped into the school, the bell for homeroom rang. Lucy groaned trying to catch her breath, "Damn.." She jogged up to her locker, twisted the lock, and grabbed her books; ignoring the pain in her chest. She ran to her homeroom, arriving just as homeroom ended. Lucy strode in nonchalantly, still a bit out of breath. "_Maybe I've caught a cold_.." she thought carelessly.

The teacher, Mr. Dreyar gave her a cocky smirk. "You're late Miss Heartfilia... Again." He made a check on a piece of paper, never letting his taunting gaze leave her. "Do you think yourself too high and mighty to attend homeroom?" Lucy's cheeks flushed with anger, Laxus Dreyar was her least favourite teacher. "No sir.." She muttered, taking her seat next to a raven haired boy and a petite blue haired girl.

Mr. Dreyar ignored her remark and began teaching his lesson. Lucy could feel a deathly gaze on her back, turning around, she was faced with an obviously furious scarlet haired female. "E-Erza.." she whispered, trying to explain herself without drawing Mr. Dreyar's attention. Erza gave her another deathly glare, which evolved into worry as she listened to her friends heavy breathing. She was obviously worried, but Lucy, thinking that Erza was angry with her, turned around to pay a bit of attention to the lesson.

* * *

After class, Lucy found herself confronted by two worried friends. "Lu-Chan.. Your breathing is all funny.." Levi whimpered, staring at her breathless friend. "You should see the nurse.." the ever rational Erza stated. "I'm fine!" Lucy tried to laugh off her friends worries, "It's just a cold! Come on, we'll be late for our next class." she told them, then proceeded to drag them off.

Over the course of the day, her friends persistently tried to get her to see the nurse, but Lucy refused, stating that she 'didn't want to needlessly worry the nurse.'

During Physical Ed. however, it turned out her friends were right. They were running for P.E., an endurance run to be exact. Lucy had always been a good runner, so naturally she was excited for this race. The race started out smoothly, Lucy was the fastest by far and her friends began to think that maybe they had worried needlessly, when she suddenly stopped running, panting heavily.

She held a hand over her mouth, coughing violently. She gained a couple worried looks from her classmates, but she assured them she was fine before returning to her coughing fit. As her friends caught up to her, Lucy was considerably paler. "L-Lu-Chan!" Levi stuttered, staring in horror at her friend. "W-What.." Lucy managed, looking up at her weakly. "Y-You're hand.. I-It's all.. Bloody.."

Lucy looked at her hand in surprise, then, feeling something sliding down her jaw, she wiped her face. More blood. Lucy whimpered, falling back into a fit of coughing. "L-Levi...-Chan.. I-It's hard to.. To breathe.." she mumbled in between coughs.

"E-Erza-Chan! Call for help!" Levi wailed, practically in hysterics.

"I am! Hold on!" Erza had her cellphone out and pressed to her face. Her fingers were curled so tightly around the device they were turning white.

"Hello! I need help! My friend is coughing up blood and she's having a hard time breathing.." Erza gave whoever she called the adress to where they were then hung up, turning to Lucy and Levi. "They'll be here in five minutes.." she whispered, she was pale and looked more than extremely worried by now.

Lucy stared at her friends, trying to even her breathing and stop the coughing. She could hear sirens... they were getting louder.. closer.. her vision swam before her, small black dots invading the picture of her friends. "Lucy! Lucy!" the darkness was growing, soon, she was entirely engulfed in it.  
Lucy Heartfilia fainted.

* * *

Lucy slowly awoke to a hospital scene. There were doctors, nurses, machines both small and large, stale air, random beeping noises, and voices she couldn't make out. "_Why am I here.._?" she thought groggily, trying to remember what exactly had happened.

"Heartphilia-Sama is awake!" one of the nurses shouted. The result of the nurses call was a loud commotion of doctors and nurses, all at once trying to diagnose a problem.

"_Oh yea.._" she was starting to remember. "_I.. started coughing.. there was blood.. I couldn't breathe... then everything went dark.._" satisfied that she had remembered, she looked around slowly, starting to really take in her surroundings.

There were a few doctors, maybe two or three, about five nurses, assorted equipment, an IV plugged into her arm, a heart rate monitor attached to her, and a mask over her face, probably helping her breath. "_What's wrong with me.. All I have is a cold.._" she thought to herself. Minutes later, a grim faced, female doctor approached her and gently removed the mask from her face. It was harder to breath.

"Miss Heartfilia, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you..." she said quietly, attempting a smile.

Lucy tilted her head, waiting for the doctor to respond. The doctor was pretty, with a friendly face and blue hair. "W-Well.. What is it?" she asked, surprised to find her voice hoarse.

The woman sighed, fixing her with a pitying stare. "Miss Heartfilia, I'm afraid you've been diagnosed with Lymphangiomyomatosis.."


	2. I Like Your Hair

**Sooooo sorry for updating late! I really and truly meant to update sooner! I'm sooooo sorry! Please forgive me ;-;  
I do not own Fairy Tail, or the characters of Fairy Tail, only own this story.**

"Lym.. Lym-what?" Lucy asked shakily, stumbling over the massive word.

"Lymphangioleiomyomatosis," The doctor repeated, taking a hesitent breath. "it's a rare disease in the lungs. The disease, characterized by an unusual type of muscle cell that invades the tissue of the lungs, blood and lymph vessels, will weaken your immune system greatly. These cells are not considered cancerous. Eventually, these muscle cells will grow into the walls of the airways, and blood and lymph vessels, causing them to be obstructed. This will block air flow into the lungs and rest of the body. Unless of course, we manage to treat you."

The doctor smiled sympathetically at the speechless girl, then introduced herself.

"I'm Doctor Grandine, and it looks like we'll be seeing quite a bit of each other. Aye, Miss Heartfilia?" Grandine tried for a smile, but it was forced. She had always hated to be the bearer of bad news.

Lucy stared at Grandine, her mouth had gone dry. It was hard to talk. She was scared, obviously. But she had one question that she needed an answer to.

"D-Doctor Grandine.. Am I going to die?" She asked shakily, her unusually intense gaze filled with fear.

Grandine looked at her newest long-term patient sadly, "I honestly don't know... But I promise I will do everything I can to save you."

* * *

Lucy's P.O.V

I wandered down the unnervingly clean halls of my new home in a daze. All of this information had been dumped on me in a rather blunt fashion, and I was having a hard time comprehending it all. Evidently, I had a life threatening disease called Lym.. Lymfa.. You know what, whatever. I'm just going to call it The Sickness.

So. I have The Sickness. I have to live at the hospital now so they can moniter me and make sure I don't drop dead. I have to do all my schooling from here. And I can only wear these weird, baggy hospital gowns. Damn.. Today just sucked.

I ended up wandering into some sort of reception area, attracted by the sound of someone's screaming. My bare feet touched the cold tile and I shuddered.

Looking about for the source of the noise, I finally spotted a mass of people surrounding what seemed to be the disrupter of peace.

I walked over slowly, not caring that whoever it was was probably out of their mind. This hospital was a joint hospital/psychiatric organization, so you'd either run into a sick person, or a mental person occassionally.

As I approched, I was surprised to see a boy my age huddled on the floor screaming bloody murder.

He had shocking salmon colored hair, and a distant gaze that didn't seem to comprehend the people around him. He stared in horror at something I couldn't see, his screams slowly getting quieter. Probably because he was running out of breath.

I walked up to him and dropped to my knees beside him, trying to divert his attention. No such luck. He continued to stare ahead vacantly, mouth still wide with fear.

I took him by the shoulder and shook him gently, rousing him from his stupor. He looked at me, eyes still wide and whispered, "C-Can you see them to?" Then, he slumped against me, completely unconscious.

* * *

Third Person P.O.V

Medics had come and taken the unconscious boy from Lucy's lap, apologizing to the other residents of the hospital for the noise, then disappeared with him slung over one f their shoulders.

Lucy rubbed her head, clearly confused. "Who the hell was that.." She wondered aloud as she picked herself up from the floor. "Oh well.." She sighed softly, returning to her room.

* * *

Lucy woke up the next day feeling more tired than when she had fallen asleep. "Urg.." She groaned softly, rubbing her eyes. She got up and went about her usual morning habits, only stalled a bit by the new living area.

When she was dressed again in her ugly hospital gown, she ventured down to the reception hall she had visited the day before, humming softly to herself.

As she entered the room, the door slammed rather loudly behind her, drawing the attention of many other patients. She looked about apologetically. She froze when her eyes connected with those of a salmon haired boy sitting by himself at a table.

His eyes were different today, they seemed to comprehend the things they had failed to yesterday. He stood up and marched over to her, stopping about four feet away from her. He stared into her eyes, then cocked his head, staring behind her.

"Um.. I like your hair.." Lucy said blankly, mentally slapping herself for the stupid comment. He was probably sensitive to the fact that his hair was such a feminine color.

He blinked, staring at her in surprise before laughing loudly. He ran a hand through his messy hair, grinning at her. He didn't know who she was, but he liked her already.

"I'm Natsu. Natsu Dragneel. I'm a schizophrenic." He stuck out his large hand, a white hospital bracelet dangling on his wrist.

Lucy reached forward and shook his hand, "I-..I'm Lucy.. Lucy Heartfilia. I have The Sickness."

"The Sickness?" Natsu repeated, tilting his head. "What's that, I've never heard of it."

"Er.. I can't pronounce the real name of the disease.. So I labeled it The Sickness.." the blonde admitted sheepishly, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Oh!" The boy laughed, he knew how she felt. There were so many diseases he could pronounce. "So, Lucy! How long are you gonna be here for?"

"I.. I don't know.. Until they fix me up... Or until the disease invades my lungs and kills me..." she stated quietly, shaking her hair back into her face.

"Oh.." Natsu said, his eyes widening, "You have a deadly disease... I hope you get better!" he said brightly, fixing her with a wide grin.

Lucy smiled a bit, his positive smile rubbing off on her. "Thanks.. Why were you sitting alone before?"

"Ah," his smile faltered a bit, he reached up to brush his hair out of his face again. "There aren't many people my age here.. The older people think I'm annoying cause I end up screaming my head off a lot, and the younger kids think I'm crazy. Which I am. So I don't really have any friends here. C'ept Happy! He's my cat."

Lucy stared at him in surprise, "Oh.. Well.. If you'd like, I'll be your hospital buddy?" she tilted her head, as if it was a question that needed an answer.

"SERIOUSLY!?" He yelled, an ecstatic expression crossing his face. "That would be awesome!"

He was practically jumping up and down in excitement. He reminded Lucy of an excitable child.

"You have to come see Happy if we're gonna be friends!" He said suddenly, grabbing her arm.

"O-Okay.." Lucy let herself be dragged by the boy, suppressing a smile.

* * *

**Next chapter! Lucy meets Happy! And Levy and Erza visit! :)**


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